Flooring a Home Office

Q: What is the best material for home office flooring? My biggest concern is for the high loading and scuffing associated with desk chair casters. I do not want to cover the wood floor with a desk chair mat. A second concern is the need for an attached vs. floating floor because of built-in cabinets and desks. Is cork a consideration?
Thanks,
Tom Evernham
I checked in with Tom to make sure we knew if the desks and cabinets would be installed after the floor
The cabinets will be installed over the floor. It is a complicated geometric design which prohibits installing flooring around the cabinets. So the floor must support the cabinets and granite desk top. I am told I cannot use any floating flooring under these conditions. Again, the biggest concern is for a surface and material that can tolerate desk chair casters.
A: What you have been told is correct. You can NOT do a floating floor and expect to install cabinets or similar heavy furniture over it without having problems. Normally when it comes to abrasion worries laminate is your best bet, but since laminate is a floating floor that would not be the case here.
You initially asked if cork can work here and the answer is yes. You will want to go with a glue down Cork and most likely have a site finish to ensure a nice even finish across the entire floor. One of my co-workers over on our sales team, Cathy, has been using several planks of cork flooring as a desk mat for well over a year and a half now and the cork is still going strong without any sign of scratching – so I am pretty sure any other casters would cause the same experience.
The key to remember here is after you finish laying down all of the cork, make sure to roll the floor using a 100lbs. roller every hour until the adhesive cures (usually about 6 hours or so will do here). This will ensure that the tiles do not peel up slightly at the corners, which is an occurrence with prefinished cork tiles when they are glued.
A few tips here to make sure your floor stays in tip top shape. Make sure you have place mats to remove grit from shoes before entering the office as this will prevent grit from getting into the casters and gouging into the floor. Try not to drag heavy objects along the floor without casters or wheels of some form. Maintain a good cleaning schedule to make sure any dust or dirt is removed.